Welcome to...Mumbai’s human dumping ground

No schools, poor connectivity, air that is poison and water that kills. Welcome to Mahul, where city’s project-affected people are packed off to.

Thousands of residents struggling with poor health and loss of livelihood say they have been sent to Mahul to die.

Six years ago, the city started packing off thousands of its poorest citizens from various areas to Chembur’s Mahul locality, where they were promised a better life in a huge apartment complex. Today, most of the residents in the colony — which is flanked by smoke-belching chimneys and where basic amenities are appallingly inadequate — are prepared to trade the flats for their old slum existence.

“At least we won’t be breathing in or drinking poison. There won’t be black patches or painful blisters on our skin, and we will still have some way to earn a livelihood,” said 53-year-old resident Sarladevi Gupta.

The Mahul colony, which has 72 buildings, was supposed to be a quiet rehabilitation community for people displaced by various infrastructure and municipal projects across Mumbai, but it is increasingly being described as a hellhole. Sewage routinely overflows, water supply often lasts for only an hour, there is no school or a big hospital, and fumes from refineries and industries nearby fill the air.

Hundreds of residents, across different age groups, are suffering from a wide range of health complications — skin conditions, respiratory problems, low immunity, blood pressure. Many have also complained of rapid hair loss, and irritation in the eyes and a burning sensation in the throat. They have to travel to Ghatkopar, Sion or Crawford Market to seek treatment at a public hospital, the only place they can afford medical care.

“I left my home of 50 years in Nehru Nagar, Kurla, and came here so the city’s water pipeline is not affected, and this is what I get,” said 70-year-old resident Hirabai Sequeria, showing rashes and black patches on her skin.

Over 30,000 Project Affected People (PAP) were brought to Mahul from slums and settlements in Kurla, Ghatkopar, Vidyavihar, Mahalaxmi, and Bandra. The shanties of majority of them, including Sequeria’s, were demolished for the BMC’s Tansa pipeline. The Slum Rehabilitation Authority constructed the 72 buildings, which are each seven storeys tall and have about 300 one-room-kitchen flats. The entire PAP zone now comes under the BMC, which is the nodal agency for maintaining the area.

There are a number of industrial units near Mahul: Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum refineries, Sea Lord Containers, Aegis Logistics Ltd, Tata Power and Rashtriya Chemical and Fertilizers.

Kusum Gangavane, a 37-yearold software engineer, moved with her parents from Kurla’s Santoshi Mata Nagar to Mahul in 2012. Six months later, her parents died following an asthma attack. They were in good health before they shifted to Mahul.

“This is a gas chamber. Soon after we came here, my mother became very ill. She often complained of breathlessness. The doctor said: ‘Hawa badalli ahe. Suit hot nahi (Your climate has changed. It doesn’t suit you).’ But we had nowhere else to go — our house in Kurla had already been demolished,” Kusum said before breaking down.

Kusum’s health has also slowly deteriorated. Her immune system has almost collapsed, she experiences severe body ache and she struggles to move around. She has sold off her mother’s jewellery to manage expenses.

“How long can this go on? People here are dying bit by bit. Why don’t they (authorities) make us stand in a row and shoot us instead?” she said.

Mahesh Gaikwad, 16, often gets called a ‘freak’ by some mean kids in the locality. He has blisters on his face, which is swollen. “The skin problem developed only after I moved here with my family. We used to earlier live in a shanty in Vidyavihar,” he said.

Dr Akhilesh Goud, who runs a homeopathic clinic in the locality, gets four to five patients with skin or respiratory problems every day. “It’s a serious problem here. I refer them to bigger hospitals like BMC-run Rajawadi in Ghatkopar,” he said.

But getting to the hospital is a challenge. Hirabai Sequeria, 70, has to take a packed bus, where she doesn’t always get a seat, then take a train to CST and walk for 20 minutes to reach state-run GT Hospital near Crawford Market.

Doctors and experts have not directly blamed the fumes from the refineries and the factories for the health woes suffered by the residents. They believe a combination of factors, including suspected water contamination, could be behind the problems.

In 2013, a survey by KEM Hospital revealed high incidence of respiratory issues in Mahul and Ambapada. It revealed that “67.1 per cent population had complaints of breathlessness more than three times in a month”. The National Green Tribunal cited the findings in 2015 while hearing a case moved by residents against the industries.

A 2014-15 report by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board said: “Concentrations of nickel and benzopyrene are regularly exceeding the standards in all samples... significant presence of volatile organics, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethyl benzene.”

Laxmibai, 61, who also lives in the complex, said the rehabilitation was increasingly looking like a death sentence. “There is always a haze over the locality, we cannot get around easily as there is no proper public transport and we don’t have many work opportunities here. It seems we were sent to Mahul to die slowly,” she said. “My husband passed away within months of shifting here.”

She is considering to sell her home in the colony and move out. “It’s better than suffering here. We were better off in the slums.”

Many residents are struggling to make ends meet after losing employment while shifting to Mahul.

“Our lives has turned upside down. The buildings are nice, but we get little work in the area,” 60-yearold Khatija Bi, who sells confectioneries and cigarettes. She came to Mahul from a slum colony in Bandra East. “Earlier, I used to wash utensils at weddings and big parties and make Rs 300 a day. Now, I hardly make Rs 100 at this stall. I have mortgaged my daughter’s earrings to support the stall,” she said. A number of stalls have come up near the complex, most of them started by the poor residents. “There are no opportunities here. It’s expensive to work in another area as there are only two bus services here, one to Kurla and the other to Mantralaya,” said Ravinath Adsul, who shifted to the locality with his mother, wife and kids from Kurla’s Nehru Nagar in 2016.

Leaders from across political parties have demanded that Mahul be given a special package for upgrading its poor civic infrastructure. The BMC, however, is yet to take a call on the Rs 300 crore package.

“Where in the world does it happen that people are rehabilitated in a place which is worse than their original settlement?” asked Bilal Khan, an activist with the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan.

Another member of the organisation, Nandu Shinde, is part of a group that has moved the Bombay High Court over the appalling conditions.

“This is technically a relocation. Actually, I wouldn’t even call this relocation, this is dumping,” said Bilal Khan, a member of the organisation.

The BMC said there was no other place in the city where Project Affected People could have been accommodated. “There are no other tenements available to move people in such large numbers. We don’t have an alternative,” said Parag Masurkar, assistant municipal commissioner (estates).

Municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta said the civic body was taking steps to improve the conditions. “We will appoint contractors for the complex’s maintenance. We have also provided a hospital and a school in the area. Every concern is being addressed,” Mehta told Mirror.

But corporator Sandeep Patel is not convinced. “There is no budgetary provision for Mahul as was promised,” he said.